Chloe McCardel will battle exposure, swift sea currents, stinging jellyfish, sharp-toothed sharks and her own physical limits when she attempts a record swim today from Cuba to Florida.

Endurance athlete Diana Nyad forged ahead through the Straits of Florida with renewed vigour in pursuit of a record 103-mile unassisted swim in open waters without the aid of a shark cage.

Tourists fleeing Hurricane Rina crowded Cancun’s airport even as the cyclone lost some of its punch on a course for Mexico’s resort-studded Caribbean coast.